Luke Ford

Edward Alexander writes:

“In the modern world, the Jew has perpetually been on trial; still today the Jew is on trial, in the person of the Israeli – and this modern trial of the Jew, this trial which never ends, begins with the trial of Shylock.”

– Philip Roth, Operation Shylock (1993)

Although we live in a new Dark Age in which millions of people are assaulted daily with some version of the argument that the misfortunes of the world are to be explained in terms of “Israel,” the University of Washington’s Simpson Center has decided to add its two cents worth of calumny with a “research cluster” entitled “Palestine and the Public Sphere.”

Its first featured speaker is Omar Barghouti, a stalwart of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to expel Israel from the family of nations; its three UW “faculty contacts” – Sandra Silberstein, Eva Cherniavsky, and Anis Bawarshi – are all (like Simpson director Kathleen Woodward) English professors.

The allegations against Israel brought by academic boycotters are countless, and make the tiny country – that “[expletive] little country,” as a French diplomat who unzipped his mouth in public said some years ago – guilty of every evil on the planet with the exception of avian flu. But let us examine their favorite one: Israel is an “apartheid” state. According to the Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, “All academic exchanges with Israeli academics…have the effect of normalizing Israel and its politics of occupation and apartheid.”

On every American campus that deems itself “progressive” there is an Israel Apartheid Week each spring. For days on end the self-declared friends of the human species spew fire and vitriol at the Jewish state and call for its elimination, so that the globe may be Judenstaatrein (purified of a Jewish state).

There have never been apartheid laws in Israel. Jews and Arabs use the same buses, clinics, government offices, theaters, restaurants, soccer fields, and beaches. (Did I fail to mention universities in my list? Here is Mr. Barghouti to remind me: his academic institution of choice for pursuing a Master’s degree in philosophy was Tel Aviv University, of the nation he paints as irredeemably biased.)

All citizens of Israel, regardless of religion or ethnic origin, are equal before the law. That law accords full political, civil, and human rights to all people, including the more than one million Arab citizens, some of whom serve in the Israeli parliament and cabinet. Israel is also the only country in the world to have sought out and brought to its shores, entirely on its own initiative, tens of thousands of black Africans for purposes other than slavery, granting them full citizenship. There is, to be sure, extreme and murderous racial and religious discrimination in the Middle East – have BDSers assessed the causes of the 130,000 killed and 20 million refugees from nearby Syria? – so much so that Israel is nearly the only state in the region where “apartheid” is not practiced in some form.

The Simpson Center has for many years been zealous in sponsoring or co-sponsoring peripatetic Israel-haters. In 2008, in an act of depraved malevolence, Simpson marked Israel’s 60th birthday by bringing to campus, with help from the Graduate School, Norman Finkelstein, the dream-Jew of the world’s anti-Semites, and Yitzhak Laor, a second-tier Israeli poet who specializes in depicting his country as the devil’s experiment station.

Lest there be any doubt about where Woodward’s Simpson Center stands in relation to the campaign to demonize Israel, it shamelessly recommends, as its model of scholarship in this area for “depth, tenor, and thoughtfulness,” the scandalous tract by yet another English professor, Jacqueline Rose, called The Question of Zion. A critic of the psychoanalytic persuasion, Rose has put Zionism on the couch in a way that gives some support to those who claim that psychoanalysis is the disease it purports to cure. She depicts mass murderers as “people driven to extremes,” rhapsodizes about bonding with Islamist fanatics, lashes out against “those wishing to denigrate suicide bombers and their culture.”

“Appalled at what the Israeli nation perpetrated in my name,” Rose wishes to live “in a world in which we did not have to be ashamed of shame” and looks forward to curing her shame-sickness by destroying its cause: Israel. The book’s level of scholarship is exemplified in the following sentence: “It was the same Paris performance of Wagner. . .that inspired Herzl to write Der Judenstaat [the Jewish State], and Hitler Mein Kampf.” (Is there a normally attentive junior high school student who would not laugh at this historical absurdity?)

Careful observers of the organizations that strive to demonize Israel will notice the frequency with which they trot out what Kafka called “Display Jews” like Rose. One hesitates to call such Jews self-haters because so many of them are sick with self-love. They become Jews by virtue of the (much-advertised) fact that they are not Zionists.

Perhaps a cautionary and charitable note of warning, especially to the English professors among them, is in order. Stoking the fires of Jew-hatred is a risky business because the flames quickly get out of control. Jew-haters are notoriously poor at distinguishing between Zionist and anti-Zionist Jews. Like poor Cinna, the unfortunate poet in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar who is mistaken by the “firebrands” come to avenge their murdered emperor, insisting that he is not “Cinna the conspirator,” they will find it useless to plead “I am Professor Rose the anti-Zionist! I am not Professor Rose the Zionist.” The killers – in Paris or Toulouse or Copenhagen – will nevertheless reply: “It is no matter. Tear her to pieces, she’s a Jew.”

About the Author: Edward Alexander is professor emeritus in the English department at the University of Washington and the author of a number of books including “The State of the Jews: A Critical Appraisal” (Transaction, 2012).

Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz writes:

Dear Rep. Jan Schakowsky,

I take strong exception to your actions regarding the recent historic and enthusiastically received speech of Prime Minister Netanyahu before a joint meeting of Congress. I was hopeful that in the aftermath of his speech you would realize the folly of your ways in allowing yourself to be motivated by partisan politics – your well-known loyalty to the Obama administration. This has not happened.
Few members of the House or Senate, even fellow Democrats, boycotted the Prime Minister’s speech. You did. Many of those who said they would boycott the speech attended. You didn’t. Few members of the House or Senate made public negative statements regarding the Prime Minister’s speech after it was delivered. You did. Members of the Black Caucus who had threatened to walk out on the Prime Minister didn’t do so. Florida Democrat Corrine Brown a member of the Black Caucus praised the Prime Minister’s speech after it was given. You did the opposite. Yet you claim that “As a Jew, support for Israel is in my DNA.’”

I write not as your constituent, although I’m confident many in your constituency have already expressed to you their anger, shock and frustration regarding the stance you have taken against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the State of Israel. For as in our own nation, in any democracy, the duly elected leaders of the nation speak for that nation. Rather, I write as a fellow Jew and as a Rabbi regarding your claim of an innate support for the State of Israel in your DNA.

Let me suggest that having support for Israel in one’s DNA is always visibly apparent. I recall with crystal-clear clarity, the tears of pride and joy pouring down my grandmother’s wrinkled cheeks every time she had the opportunity to sing Hatikvah. Just seeing an Israeli flag unfurled in a parade brought a deep emotional reaction from her. And while I am not prone to crying in public, I always am overcome by deep emotion when having the privilege to see the “blue-and-white” proudly carried by a fellow Jew in public.

An episode in my youth is worth noting here. When Israel was but a fledgling nation, I recall a young man walking into our Conservative synagogue in a dark brown military uniform. A whisper began to go from congregant to congregant. He is in the Israeli military! People began walking over to him to greet him with a hearty and loving Shabbat Shalom. Extending their hand and embracing his was a privilege deeply relished by each and every person in attendance. The tumult resulted in the Rabbi pausing services for a moment, asking everyone to return to their respective seats and announcing we will all have the Zchut, merit, to personally greet our honored guest at the Kiddush following services. Each and every person lined up to shake this young Israeli’s hand and to thank him for his heroism in protecting the Jewish State. Many stood in line with tears pouring down their face as they realized that were we to have had our own nation and army just a few years earlier, 6 million of our people would not have died in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany. Indeed the Prime Minister took the unusual step of speaking before Congress because 6 million Jews residing in the state of Israel face the threat of extermination.

Congresswoman, you are not only a Jew, you occupy what is commonly known as the “Jewish” seat in the Illinois delegation which was for 50 years occupied by the outspoken advocate for Israel and the Jewish people – Congressman Yates. Your constituency, Jew and Gentile alike, expect you to be in the forefront of those who strongly and vociferously advocate for the State of Israel.

Three possible options presented themselves to you with regard to the Prime Minister’s speech. You could have been an outspoken supporter of that speech- a position your constituency would have wanted you to take. Alternatively, while harboring some negative feelings about the timeliness etc. of the speech, you could have kept them to yourself and as a Jew attended the Prime Minister’s speech. Finally, you could have, as you did, been an outspoken antagonist. The first two options bespeak a supporter of Israel in one’s DNA. The latter does not. I am confident the actions you have taken will long be remembered by your constituents.

As a Rabbi I urge you to give strong consideration to your relationship with your faith and your people. The wonders of medical science have resulted in our understanding the nature of our DNA and even being able to alter it to some degree for our physical benefit. I pray you do the same to your DNA altering it to be more reflective of the Jew’s support one should always demonstrate for the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

Respectfully,
Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz

About the Author: Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz is the rav of Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation in Chicago. During his 43 years in the rabbinate he has led congregations in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom and served as an officer, Executive Committee member and chair of the Legislative Committee of the Chicago Rabbinical Council.

Ronn Torosian writes:

Owning a PR firm, I know a tad about spin. The New Israel Fund (NIF) is facing an intense campaign which challenges their donors, and exposes their true intentions – and they are responding.

This weekend, Rachel Liel, Israel director of the NIF was featured in an article in YNET, the online version of Yediot Achronot. Using convenient half-truths, Liel discussed the importance of NIF projects which benefit minorities, benefits ultra-Orthodox women, and other fairly mainstream projects which few Israelis take offense at.

What was conveniently ignored was the fact that a significant portion of NIF’s $30 Million budget is spent on projects which directly harm the State of Israel. The New Israel Fund is a dangerous, radical organization which wraps their programs in a “respectable” package. They are rejected by the majority of Israelis across the political spectrum.

What has not yet been exposed is the fact that Rachel Liel’s husband, Alon is one of the world’s leading organizers of world boycotts against Israel. He is also a co-organizer of the campaign to call on European countries to undermine Israeli sovereignty by “recognizing” the “State of Palestine.” Alon Liel, Israel’s former ambassador to South Africa is a member of two organizations which receive large funding by NIF. He is on the management team of Ir Amin, which works against Jewish interests in Jerusalem, and is also a member of the B’Tselem Public Council.

Alon Liel supports a cultural boycott of Israel, having supported author Alice Walker’s Anti-Semitic refusal to allow a Hebrew translation of her bestseller “The Color Purple.” He works extensively worldwide on PR campaigns which harm Israel, working to generate headlines which read “Boycott My Country.”

He holds radical viewpoints which the majority of Israelis, even on the left oppose, from calling on High School trips to the Golan to be cancelled as they are “a provocation to peace”, to claiming that the boycott is a “more pressing issue than the Iran issue.” The man has endorsed an academic boycott against Israeli academic institutions, and has called Jonathan Pollard a traitor.

Liel noted, “The simple act of marking settlement products differently to Israeli products pulls the rug from under the refusal to declare a border. I buy Israeli products every day and do my best not to buy Israeli products from the Occupied Territories. I don’t see why you, living outside Israel, shouldn’t have the same choice.” Actress Scarlett Johansson was rightfully applauded across the Pro-Israel spectrum on this very issue – and the Liel’s must be condemned.
Yet, the Liel’s are two peas in a pod.

Last week Rachel Liel had an interview in Yedioth Achronot, where she referred to accusations that NIF organizations handed information to the Goldstone Commission by claiming that “The information was taken from publications and from websites and was not actively delivered to Goldstone.” At the same time, Adala, a major NIF organization claims the opposite on their website, as they note “This week, seven human rights organizations based in Israel presented a report to the UNFact-Finding team investigating allegations of war crimes during “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, led by Justice Richard Goldstone.”

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

The New Israel Fund must be ostracized and rejected by the Jewish community.

David Hazony writes on FB: Fact: Israel’s electoral system is actually one of the simplest in the democratic world. No multiple houses, no districts or run-off elections, no separate elected branches with voting at different times for different parts of it. So please stop using the word “complex” when what you mean is “different from ours.” The only thing complex is the negotiations that ensue to form a government after the voters have had their say–a process that reflects that complexity of the society itself.